The Five-Day Dig by Jennifer Malin

Author:Jennifer Malin
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Jennifer Malin Books
Published: 2011-10-28T13:00:00+00:00

QUATTORDICI

EARLY THE NEXT morning, a knock sounded at her door.

“Winnie, it’s me,” Chaz’s muffled voice intoned.

She opened up without hesitation, and her heart sped up when she saw him, but tension still hung in the air.

“Are you ready to go down to the site?” he asked with no expression.

“Almost. Come in for a minute.”

He entered and closed the door. As she went to the dresser to get a pair of socks, he sat down at the desk and picked up a pen, tapping it on a notepad. “I got Dr. Farber’s letter from him.”

Her gaze shot to him in surprise. That he would bring up the letters first seemed like a sign of innocence, but she was afraid her attraction to him could cloud her judgment. “He didn’t send it straight to his lawyer?” she asked, no longer caring if she sounded fed up with their boss.

“No, he handed it right over to me. He only said that he’d be interested in anything I find out.”

“Hmph.” Socks in hand, she sank down on the bed. It didn’t seem like Farber’s style to retreat so easily. Recruiting Chaz to spy on her would fit his MO better. Or was she being paranoid? “Did you take a look at it?”

“Yes, but I didn’t come up with much. The signature looks like it was done by someone unfamiliar with the real thing – or who didn’t care about reproducing it accurately. But I can’t think of anyone with a motive. When we get home, I’ll talk to our colleagues.” He looked at her. “How would you feel about talking to the police?”

Again, she felt it was a good sign that he didn’t avoid mentioning the police and that he’d met her gaze as he did. Also, he did know Farber’s signature – if he’d forged it, wouldn’t he have done a better job? Or was she grasping at straws? “I hadn’t even thought about it,” she said. “Of course, if Farber decides he’s going to press charges against me, I won’t have a choice.”

“I think he knows that pressing charges would be absurd. Unfortunately, his jealousy of you sometimes gets the better of him, and he says things he shouldn’t.”

“Jealousy?” She stopped in the middle of reaching for a sneaker. “He has no reason to be jealous of me. As one of the biggest grant winners in the school, he has the bigwigs at Growden fawning all over him. Those people don’t even know my name.”

“But your books have both had commercial success. His have gone unnoticed outside of academic circles.” He gave her a curious look. “Surely, you’re aware that drives him ’round the bend. He tries to make himself feel better by belittling you.”

“I always took that for plain old contempt.” Tying her shoe, she considered his point. She guessed jealousy could explain Farber’s treatment of her, but it didn’t seem likely.

He got up and went to gaze out the French doors. “Onto a happier subject, how much of your father’s notebook did you read?”

She let out a humorless laugh.

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